Seal for a coalescer



1956 J. w. ROBINSON SEAL FOR A COALESCER Filed July 18, 1952 INVENTOR. JOHN WARREN ROBINSON ATTORN EYS John Warren Robinson,

States Patent() 7 2,732,077- SEAL non A COALESCER Atlantic Beach, Fla., assignor to a corporation of Rhode Island Application July 18, 1952, Serial No. 299,658

1 Claim. (Cl. 210-169) Fram Corporation,

This invention relates to a coalescer of the type used for separating immiscible liquids such as water and hydrocarbons.

One of 'the objects of this invention is to provide a seal against the passage of liquid to be treated across the ends of a pleated treating medium.

Another object of the invention is to provide a seal across the ends of the treating medium even though the sealing means may be cut by supporting elements for the same.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of certain novel features of construction, as will be more fully described and particularly pointed out in the appended claim.

In the accompanying drawings:

Fig. 1 is a perspective view of the coalescing element;

Fig. 2 is a fragmental sectional view of the upper end of the coalescing element;

Fig. 3 is a fragmental sectional to the section of Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a fragmental sectional view on substantially line 4-4 of Fig. 2;

Fig. 5 is a perspective view of the gasket or sealing wall prior to its insertion into the element.

In proceeding with this invention, I provide a pleated supporting wall for supporting in pleated form a layer of coalescing material through which the liquid to be treated is passed, the supporting wall also being of permeable material for the passing of the liquid after it has passed through the coalescing layer. In order to seal the ends of the coalescing material, I have provided a gasket or wall to cover the ends of the pleated coalescing material and as it is also necessary to seal the ends of the pleated supporting wall, this gasket is located in the first instance between the ends of both the pleated coalescing medium and the pleated supporting wall but as pressure is applied to effect a seal between the supporting wall and the rigid end wall at right angles to the pleated wall, the sealing layer of coalescing material is cut through by the pleated supporting wall. This leaves segments of an annulus at the ends of the pleated coalescing material which serve to provide a seal at these ends against the passage of liquid that is not subjected to the action of the coalescent annulus. These segments, however, do provide for passage of the liquid to be treated while treating the liquid and effecting a seal against the passage of any untreated liquid in this area.

With reference to the drawings, designates a perforated tube which may be of thin sheet metal with perforations 11 the same being reinforced by a helical wire 12 as shown in Fig 2. Extending in pleated form annularly about this cylindrical tube 10 there is a supporting wall 13 of a paper which is permeable to the passage of liquid to be treated. This wall extends in the form of generally radially extending pleats 14 formed by folding the paper at equally spaced points such as 15 and 16 and then expanding this paper and arranging it in an view at right angles 2,732,077 Patented Jan. 24, 1956 annulus so. that it is supported internally against the wall 10. A layer 17 of a coalescing material usually Fiberglas is arranged in pleated form following generally the pleats of the supporting wall 13, thus this layer will be folded as at 18 where it extends in between the pleats and folded again as at 19 where it is folded over the outer edges of the pleats. i 1

A rigid end wall 20 of metal extends from the foraminous wall 10 radially outwardly and is provided with a collar 21 to extend closely along this cylindrical wall 10.

Between the inner surface of this wall 20 and the ends of the pleated formations above described, I provide a gasket of compressible coalescent material which, at the time of its insertion in place, is of annular form 22 as shown in Fig. 5 and which provides an outer wall portion 23 projecting over the ends of the pleated form of the coalescing material 17 as above described. There is 'also provided a resilient gasket 24 along the inner surface of the wall 20 which will be of elastic rubber or some synthetic rubber material. After such assembly, pressure is applied on the end wall 20 which presses against the pleated material and the back-up paper, the paper being of such rigidity and strength that it will cut through the gasket 22, leaving individual segments as 25 (see Fig. 4) in exactly the form of the space between the pleats which are provided while pressing against the pleated coalescing material 17. The pleated supporting wall of paper, however, is sealed against the gasket 24 of rubber or rubber like material which is also best shown in Fig. 4 and provides a good tight seal at this location against the passage of liquid.

On the outer surface of the element, there may be another gasket of rubber or rubber like material 26 which provides a seal in the position in which the element is placed. In some cases, a shell (not shown) may be placed outside of the element shown in Fig. 1, in which case this shell will set in the recesses 27 in the outer edge of the plate 20.

The liquid to be treated will contact the outer surface of the pleated coalescing material 17 and pass through the same. The liquid cannot pass around the ends of the pleated material 17 without passing through the similar material 25 which is provided at the ends and by reason of its disposition prevents the passage of liquid without passing through the coalescing material provided therefor. After the liquid has passed through this coalescing material 17, it will pass through the permeable supporting wall of paper 14 and cannot pass around the ends of this wall by reason of the seal between the ends of this pleated wall and the gasket 24. The liquid then passes through the openings 11 into the center of the tube and then on to discharge from the element.

It will be seen from the foregoing that the resilient gasket 24 forms a simple and inexpensive type of seal at the end of the stiff pleated wall 13, but that this gasket does not form a good seal at the end of the pleated coalescent material 17. To prevent liquid from passing around the end of the material 17 without being subjected to the desired coalescent treatment, the disc 22 of compressible coalescent material is provided to contact the end of the material 17 and prevent the liquid from by-passing both of these coalescent materials.

I claim:

A cylindrical shaped coalescing unit comprising a relatively stiff supporting wall of permeable material formed with outwardly extending pleats arranged with the pleats extending lengthwise of the cylinder, a layer of batt-like coalescing glass fibers through which liquid to be treated may pass and which covers the lengthwise extending pleats, a closure wall at an end of said pleats, a rubber-like gasket held by the closure wall in sealing relation with the ends of said pleats, and a coalescing gasket of batt-like glass fibers compressed between the rubber-like gasket and ends of the pleats to an extremely slight thickness and which batt-like gasket is expanded adjacent the pleat ends to a number of times its compressed thickness into contact with the first mentioned coalescing material, to thereby prevent the liquid from passing between the two coalescing materials without being subjected to the coalescent treatment.

1,148,237 Kneuper July 27, 1915 4 Rohrbach May 17, Campbell Oct. 25, Baldwin Dec. 24, Wood May 24, Bennett Nov. 14, Newman Jan. 7, Kirkbride et a1 I an. 10, Nugent May 1, Hersberger June 12, Chambers et a1 Feb. 5, Robinson Sept. 23, 

